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Michael Phelps is a swimming conventionalist when it comes to a events list. (Peter Morgan/AP)

If Michael Phelps somehow decides to contest in a 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, he could have a possibility to win some-more bullion medals than ever before. But he’s not meddlesome — and not only since during 31, he motionless to retire (again) final year. An apparent swimming traditionalist, Phelps doesn’t like a thought of expanding a competition to embody some-more events in a arriving Games, including a men’s 800-meter freestyle, a women’s 1,500 freestyle and a one that would advantage Phelps a most, a 4×100 churned relay.

“When we supplement something like an 800-meter for group and a 1,500-meter for women, and you’re adding churned relays and 50s of strokes. we don’t wish to contend it, though it seems like there’s too most going on,” he pronounced Thursday during a promotional eventuality (via NBC Sports). “It seems like, so afterwards we’re going to grow a group by a handful of other people? we don’t like it. we don’t consider it’s what swimming has been by all of this time, and hopefully we don’t have it for too long, though it’s not in my power. we can’t unequivocally do anything. I’ll only lay and watch.”

Phelps likened a changes, that a IOC authorized final week, to a debate over swimming’s ephemeral high-tech suits, that finished adult being criminialized in 2010 for enhancing performances too much.

“It’s only like what we had in 2009, after universe championships, carrying those high-tech suits. It’s not swimming anymore,” he said. “We’ve had this eventuality report for so long, and now we’re only going to collect and select what events we want? we could go into some-more detail, though I’m unequivocally not going to. It’s a huffy subject.”

Phelps, who’s won 23 Olympic golds, pronounced he’s not opposite adding some-more swimming events since it could move someone else closer to violation his Olympic award record, including Katie Ledecky, who will positively advantage from a serve of a women’s 1,500, that is already hold during a universe championships. Thinking about a combined races from that angle, Phelps altered his tune.

“It’s good to be means to see Katie potentially go for eight,” Phelps said. “I consider it’s good to see opposite events combined for Katie since afterwards we can unequivocally plea where her extent is. … Then we move a lot some-more fad to a competition from a selling standpoint.”

Speaking of marketing, Phelps is all in when it comes to personal opportunities to serve his brand. On Thursday he announced he’d be competing against a good white shark as partial of Discovery’s “Shark Week” after subsequent month. The sum about a eventuality sojourn unclear, expected since it’s a gimmick and not an tangible race, notwithstanding Discovery’s hype that “the competition is on!”